In modern American presidential campaigning, scholars and citizens have bemoaned
the effects of electronic media on voters. Much has been written about the
supposed effects of TV ads, media management, perceived bias, and other issues,
yet one element of today’s media environment that most Americans would
recognize has not been identified in the public mind.

There is
significant evidence that journalists regularly tell audiences what actions
candidates should take on the campaign trail, based solely on whether they’re
leading or trailing in public opinion polls. This is referred to as “expectation
setting.”

The rise and proliferation of this phenomenon is documented
through a comprehensive content analysis of transcripts of CBS Evening News
broadcasts during presidential election campaigns from 1968–2012. This book
provides numerous examples from these transcripts to illustrate how television
news has gone from simply reporting poll data to portraying it as nearly the
only motivation for anything candidates do while campaigning.

I argue
that with the combination of heightened day-to-day coverage of campaigns and the
omnipresence of poll data, in many election years campaign coverage has largely
become a day-to-day series of contests, with candidates portrayed as succeeding
or failing each day to meet “expectations” of what the candidate at their
given position in the polls should do on the campaign trail.

For more
information about the book, click
here to go to the book's page on the publisher's Web site.

To order a
copy from Amazon, click
here. If you're an instructor considering adopting the book for your
class, click
here to order a review copy.

Oxford University Press has released the textbook I've co-written with the
Poynter Institute's veteran reporter and instructor Chip Scanlan. The book
covers every aspect of news gathering, reporting and writing with today's news
audiences in mind. It combines Chip's strong fundamentals and experience
in all reporting situations with my own background in online journalism and new
technologies.

Throughout the book, dozens of successful journalists have shared insights about
the business and its changing nature. Each chapter contains numerous
examples of storytelling techniques, information gathering strategies and other
important elements of today's journalism. Tips and checklists offer practical advice, relevant questions and
directions related to each section.

A key element is the notion of coaching -- allowing young writers to use key
questions and concepts to improve their own writing rather than simply telling
them to approach stories in given ways. "The Coaching Way" boxes
throughout the book provide guidance to help students take responsibility for their own work.

For more details about the book, click
here to go to the book's page on the publisher's Web site.

To buy a copy directly from Oxford, click
here. If you're an instructor considering adopting the book for your
class, click
here to order a review copy.

Cengage Learning has released my textbook for
online journalism classes. This is the first textbook built from the ground
up to show students how to tailor their reporting, writing and editing skills
specifically for the online medium. Instead of taking a standard writing or
editing text and changing a few words here and there to create a “Web update,” every aspect of this book has been put together with online
journalism in mind.

The chapters cover a wide variety of concepts
that go beyond standard writing texts. For example, in the area of
information gathering, students can learn advanced keyword searching techniques
and get acquainted with high-powered databases that reporters use to dig deeper
and find more specific types of information. In the section on writing,
students are exposed to different styles and techniques of online writing and
learn how to structure their writing to take advantage of the strengths of the
medium. Later in the book, students learn about legal and ethical issues
unique to online journalism, and can take a peek into the future as seen by
online journalists themselves.

Signing books at the
Cengage booth at the AEJMC conference in Toronto.

More than 20 professional online journalists were interviewed for the
book, and their comments and suggestions appear throughout the chapters.
Audio clips from many of these professionals also appear on the
book's Web site. In addition, from these interviews the book provides lots of real-world examples of the
challenges and possibilities inherent within reporting, writing and
editing for the online news venue.

The book is written in an engaging, accessible style to make it not
only informative, but an enjoyable read for students of all levels.
The approach is practical, but with an eye toward larger notions of
understanding the role of a journalist online. Rather than simple
memorization, the book aims to infuse students with an enthusiasm for the
craft of online journalism that will reflect itself in their work.

For more details about the book, click
here to go to the book's page on Cengage's Web site.

To buy a copy directly from Cengage, click
here. If you're an instructor considering adopting the book for your
class, click
here to order a review copy.